The invention relates to a needle bed for a knitting machine.
Knitting machines comprise needle beds, for example, in the form of knitting cylinders, dials or also in the form of flat needle beds. It may become necessary to cool needle beds. To achieve this, document DE 40 24 101 C2 suggests to machine a groove on the inside circumferential area of a needle cylinder, said groove being sealed by an annular lid. Connectors on the lid allow the feeding and discharging of cooling water.
Cylinders of knitting machines may reach a relatively large diameter. In this case, the annular lid will also have a correspondingly large diameter. Regardless of occurring temperature fluctuations or other influences, said lid must form a permanent seal with the knitting cylinder.
Furthermore, it has been known from document DE 39 38 685 C2 to provide a cooling pipe on the knitting cylinder in order to cool the knitting cylinder, said cooling pipe extending in coils, or also meandering, around the inside circumference of the knitting cylinder and being partially set into said knitting cylinder.
Furthermore, this literature reference discloses a knitting cylinder having a hollow space with a rectangular cross-section extending in circumferential direction, said hollow space being connected—on the inside circumference of the knitting cylinder—to feed and discharge lines.
Considering this, it is the object of the invention to disclose a possibility with which cooling can be achieved on a needle bed. This object is to be achieved by a solution that can be implemented in the simplest-possible manner and that functions in a reliable manner.